“Speaking to The Associated Press Friday, Walesa said the ‘‘world is disorganized and the superpower is not taking the lead.’’ The former Solidarity leader said that when he meets Obama in Warsaw, he wants to tell him that the U.S. should inspire and encourage the world into positive action.

‘‘I will say: Either you want to be a superpower and guide us, or you should give the superpower to Poland and we will know what to do with it. Amen,’’ he said.

Of course, Mr Walesa remembers presidential leadership, such as what he saw under President Reagan in the 1980s.

He remembers a US president who called the USSR an “evil empire” and told them “to tear down that wall”.

Walesa knows a thing or two about leadership and courage.

He was the man who stood up to the communist leadership in Poland.

It was the kind of “community organizing” that got you thrown into political prisons or “blacklisted” by the communist regime.

I hope that Mr Walesa speaks bluntly with President Obama. We need it!

“Barbara Walters said the difficulties engulfing President Barack Obama are a reflection of the let-down people are feeling from the high expectations they had during his earliest days in office when she and others thought he was going to be “the next messiah.”

The 81-year-old broadcast journalist made the remarks during an interview on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live” on Tuesday, after Morgan asked her why Obama is facing so much opposition and why “he is struggling so much to really fulfill the great flame of ambition and excitement that he was elected on originally in 2009?””

Really Miss Waters? It took 5 years to figure this out.

It took Miss Walters 5 years to figure out that a guy who had never managed anything might run into a few problems trying to run the federal government. Obama had no executive experience, only 2 years in the US Senate, no significant accomplishments in the Illinois Senate and so on. Obama was totally unprepared for this job.

Wonder what other liberal is going to come out and admit that he or she fell for the false Messiah?

My guess is that more will “come out of the closet”, specially after they learn that The Affordable Health Care Act is not affordable at all.

In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama told a crowd in South Florida that his policy towards Cuba would be governed by one word: “Libertad,” Spanish for liberty.

“The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba’s political prisoners, the right of free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair,” Obama said. “That is my commitment. I won’t stand for this injustice; you will not stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba. That will be my commitment as president of the United States of America.”

We’re pretty sure that’s not what President Obama told Cuba’s Dictator-in-Chief Raul Castro when he shook his hand at the funeral service for Nelson Mandela. If he did, it did not have much of an impact. The day after the handshake heard around the world, the Castro boys celebrated Human Rights Day by tossing over 150 Cuban dissidents in jail.

But the war over the handshake is lost. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart mocked those who feel true outrage that the Leader of the Free World would extend warm wishes to a tyrant responsible for the death of over 50,000 of his own countrymen. Like President Johnson losing Cronkite over Vietnam, losing Comedy Central over oppression in Cuba is deadly.

So let’s change the debate. The President wants to shake hands with Cuban leaders, let’s give him a few new ones. If President Obama were to shake these hands, he could live up to his campaign promise and truly change Cuba.

Jorge Louis Garcia Perez “Antúnez” – Arrested and imprisoned at the age of seventeen for openly criticizing the tyranny of the dictatorship, Antúnez spent the next seventeen years of his life in a Castro gulag. In spite of suffering countless beatings and arrests since his 2007 release, Antúnez continues to be an outspoken critic of the regime.

Gorki Águila – As front man for the Cuban punk-rock band Porno Para Ricardo (Porn for Ricardo), Gorki’s music mercilessly skewers and mocks the Castro dictatorship. He has been arrested and detained for his protest rock numerous times, and the Castro regime has confiscated the band’s musical instruments and gear on various occasions. What the Cuban regime cannot confiscate, however, is Gorki’s determination to fight for his rights.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, known by many as the “Nelson Mandela” of Cuba – A medical doctor and devout Catholic, Oscar Elias Biscet had his first run in with the Castro dictatorship when he protested the regime’s policy of using unsafe drugs to induce pregnant women to have abortions. His opposition led to his firing and a prohibition from practicing medicine. Refusing to go away quietly, Dr. Biscet then became a leader in the human rights movement in Cuba. He was arrested during the Black Spring of 2003 (along with 74 other activists) and given a 25-year prison sentence. Finally released from prison in 2011 and placed on parole, Dr. Biscet continues to defy the dictatorship and valiantly advocates for democracy in Cuba.

Sadly, there are some Cuban hands President Obama will not be able to shake because they were murdered by the Castro regime since Obama took office in 2008.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo – Murdered, February 3, 2010 – After a prolonged hunger strike to protest his inhumane incarceration, this Afro-Cuban was brutally beaten by Cuban State Security agents as they screamed racial epitaphs at him. He was initially refused medical care and died at the age of 33 from the injuries he had sustained.

Laura Pollán – Murdered, October 14, 2011 – As the wife of political prisoner Hector Maseda – one of the 75 dissidents arrested and given long prison sentences during the Black Spring of 2003 – Laura Pollan was one of the founders of Cuba’s Ladies in White. This group was made up of the wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters of political prisoners in Cuba. After the group gained worldwide prominence and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2005, the Castro dictatorship became more aggressive towards the group. Following a 2011 violent, government-led attack on the Ladies in White, Pollan complained that one of the thugs had pricked her with what felt like a needle. A few days later she was hospitalized with an unexplained illness and mysteriously died a week later.

And, finally, while the President is in the mood to shake hands, extend one to American Alan Gross, who is currently dying in a Cuban prison for giving cell phones and lap tops to a Cuban synagogue.

My Canadian friend Brian Lloyd French, author of “Mojito”, wrote “The island of lies” a couple of years ago:

“Lies are a permanent part of life on the Castros’ island paradise lost.

Younger Cubans have to lie about their opinions of the government, its leadership and their opinion of the United States. Old Cubans lie about Fidel Castro because those lies are the only opinion they’ve ever been allowed to have.

The Cuban politburo lies about everything it does, and just about everything everyone else does; especially the USA.

The Castros spew lies constantly but are so absent from reality that they seem to believe them.”

Why would President Obama elevate a liar like Raul Castro?

Click here for my chat with Brian, and specially his thoughts on how black Cubans are discriminated against in the island:

President Obama has diminished respect for the United States in Latin America and the Caribbean. He has put strain on relationships with friendly nations while appeasing or downplaying the threat from those leaders who oppose our interests.

Delay In Approving Trade Agreements. President Obama waited three years before submitting to Congress trade agreements with our partners Colombia and Panama—agreements signed by the previous administration—for fear of angering the union bosses to whom he owes political loyalty. President Obama has not sought to reach any new trade agreements in the region, despite there being strong trading potential and natural connections between Latin America and the Latino business community in the United States.

Appeasement Of The Castro Regime.While he dragged his feet on trade agreements with our friends, President Obama moved quickly to relax travel and remittance restrictions on Cuba mere months into his term while demanding nothing in return that would offer the Cuban people their long-denied freedom. The Cuban regime responded that same year by jailing American citizen and USAID contractor Alan Gross, who remains imprisoned to this day. The Castros continue to oppress their own people and imprison pro-democracy dissidents.

Failing To Recognize The Threat Posed By Hugo Chávez.President Obama stated, “But overall my sense is that what Mr. Chávez has done over the last several years has not had a serious national security impact on us.” This statement underplayed the strategic threat posed by Chávez and goes a long way in explaining the President’s failure to stand resolutely for democracy and economic opportunity in Latin America. Chávez is leading a virulently anti-American “Bolivarian” movement across Latin America that seeks to undermine institutions of democratic governance. The Bolivarian movement threatens U.S. allies such as Colombia, has interfered with regional cooperation on key issues such as illicit drugs and counterterrorism, has provided safe haven for drug traffickers, has encouraged regional terrorist organizations, and has invited Iran and foreign terrorist organizations like Hezbollah into the region.